Abstract

Methods are tested for computing geopotential anomalies from temperature data in thesubtropical Northeast Atlantic. Mean temperature-salinity, salinity-depth anddensity-depth relationships are determined for 3 x 3° squares, using hydrographie datafrom World Oceanographie Data Centre A. Geopotential anomalies computed fromobserved temperatures and salinities from these mean relationships are compared withanomalies from the original temperature and salinity data. For 0-500 dbar, geopotentialanomalies can be weil approximated, and the methods also work reasonably weil for0-1000 dbar. The approximation is poor for 0-2000 dbar. Appropriate methods forobtaining the best results in each 3 x 3° square are specified. The method is applied toa particular subset of the data.